With the departure of Head of School Judith Guild at the end of next year, the Board of Trustees is searching for her successor. Chris Chou, chair of the Board of Trustees, who is leading the hiring process.

What are your goals in finding a new Head?

I think the idea of finding someone to take this role after Judy is obviously a daunting task, just because she’s such an impactful person to our Brimmer community. She’s just so great at what she does.

I think that really helps a lot as far as kind of setting the guidelines for the level of standard we’re looking for. It’s got to be Judy-level and beyond. That’s all it is. I think we have a really good idea of how we’re going to approach this to get this done over the next, say, six months or something.

How has Mrs. Guild been involved in the process?

This all started becoming a discussion once I, as board chair, talked with Judy over the last year about her contract and when she saw the right time to step aside. She’s reached a point in her life where she wants more time for family and to pursue other creative interests. The goal is to make sure she leaves on her terms and dictates what she wants to do.

How was the search firm found? What is their role in the process?

We met with all the potential consultants, and we collectively as a search committee, as a board, decided that Carney, Sandoe, & Associates was the right firm just because it’s less about the company. It’s more about the individuals that are going to be our actual consultants. And they just brought that level of comfort.

One person has a deep connection with the independent schools here in New England. The other one has had extensive experience as a Head of School, and she just kind of has that good overview and understands what Brimmer is looking for. That was really important.

What kind of candidates are being considered for the position?

I think it’s important to include candidates of all types because we, as Brimmer, are welcoming and open to all ideas, and we need to be able to cast a very wide net. 

There might be individuals that are right under our nose that are great candidates, and there are people out that are definitely going to be great candidates and we want to make sure to capture all of that information before we come to the big decision about who it should be.

What qualities are you searching for in potential candidates?

Change is good over a long term. Maybe there are things that we do very well, but there are also blind spots that we may have that we don’t even notice ourselves because we just operate in our realm so well. Maybe there’s something that’s going on in the education world that someone else can bring a different perspective on and kind of take what we have and advance it beyond that.

We’re looking for a breath of fresh air, but also to hold tight to a lot of the things that we know what makes Brimmer Brimmer. And to understand the community is very important to us. We wouldn’t be doing the search process we were doing if we didn’t emphasize the fact that community and openness and the idea that we have to welcome diverse opinions— that is very important to us. It carries through with how we profile our School.